Medical Records

Lancashire and South Cumbria has been chosen by NHS England to be a national pilot for the digitisation of Medical Records.  Scanning these paper based records and making them digital will enable better utilisation of space, creating more clinical space, staff areas, multi team space and video hubs, removing the need for some practices to build extensions. In addition it will also make your record more easily and speedily accessible to clinical staff within your practice.

Your complete GP medical record will be digital and stored in a secure cloud based clinical system (only accessible by your GP practice) with the paper based records being securely destroyed following BS EN 15713:2009 Secure destruction of confidential material.  Your GP will still be able to access your records easily within this system. The scanning and destruction of the paper records will follow strict data protection guidelines adhered to by the NHS.  As with paper based records, digital records are stored for the durations specified in the Records Management Codes of Practice for Health and Social Care. For GP patient records, this states that they may be destroyed 10 years after the patient’s death if they are no longer needed.

If you wish to discuss the scheme, please inform the Practice direct either by letter to:

Fernbank Surgery, Lytham Primary Care Centre, Lytham, Lancashire FY8 5DZ

or via telephone: 01253 957200

Community Hubs offering support during COVID-19 outbreak

Hubs have been set up in each district of Lancashire to help support the people who need it most during the COVID-19 outbreak.

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Funding appeal for Whitegate Drive defibrillator

People living in Blackpool are being asked to donate funds to help buy a piece of life-saving equipment. Staff at the Blackpool Urgent Treatment Centre are raising money for a community defibrillator to be put in a busy and under-resourced part of the town.

A defibrillator is a device that gives a high energy electric shock to the heart of someone who is having a heart attack, also known as cardiac arrest.

Dr Peter Smith, GP partner for Bloomfield Medical Ltd said: “For every minute a victim of sudden cardiac arrest does not receive treatment, their chance of survival decreases by 10 per cent.

“If a defibrillator is used within one minute of the victim collapsing, the victim’s survival rate increases to 90 per cent.

“Help us improve the survival rate of those that could collapse nearby by donating today.”

Currently, the nearest community defibrillator is a 20-minute walk away, or four-minute drive from the urgent treatment centre

Community defibrillators are easy to use, easy to carry and they won’t deliver a shock unless it is required. There is no clinical training required to be able to use the machine.

Dr Smith also said: “Defibrillators allow everyday members of the public to become lifesavers by providing the all-important shock before our ambulance crews arrive. Even just two or three minutes earlier can make a huge difference.”

To donate, go to: https://www.justgiving.com/crowdfunding/butc

Patient notice


Fernbank Surgery is currently going through some staff changes which may create longer waiting times for patients when  booking appointments.

We have recruited a new GP partner who will join the practice in January 2019, and a further GP is scheduled to begin work in March 2019.

In addition, we are also trying to recruit a new advanced nurse practitioner.

We apologise for any inconvenience caused during this time and thank our patients for their patience and support.

Once again, we thank all our patients for their support and are confident that normal service will be resumed very soon once we have new members of our clinical team in place.